Hello,
I'm Deb Brooks. My husband Scott and I own Brooks Prime Properties,
LLC, a family owned business. We love selling houses! Working with
Buyer's and Seller's to help them realize their Real Estate Dream is
what we eat, live and breathe. We love Lake Living and are pleased to
be residents of the Lake Conroe, Lake Livingston area. We have made
many friends in our business and we want to make more! Please allow us
to show you around Lake Conroe and Livingston and help orient you with
your move. If you are looking to find a waterfront getaway or a
permanent home we are here to guide you. Give us a call and we can
answer questions and assist you in your Real Estate endeavors! Deb,
936-661-2624 and Scott, 936-662-5043. Call today!

The search is on for a man that visited a client of mine that claimed to be from the Lending institution that is currently placing her homestead into foreclosure. We will call my client Ruby as I must change the names to protect the innocent! Ruby is in dire need of selling her home as she has dropped behind on payments and cannot get a response from her Lender.

Ruby's Lender is telling her that they have no control over the loss at this point. They say the wheels are in motion and the only way for her to guarantee anything is to send her payment in full. She's panicked.

So, again, this man shows up at her door claiming to be from the Lender. He gives her a line that the Lender was unable to get her on the phone so they paid him to visit her face to face. In the very same conversation he told her that he was a Loss Mitigation Representative and that he had the ability to stop the Lender in their tracks and "make the Lender" work with her.

Wow. This is a convoluted story from the beginning. It gets worse. Ruby then receives a call on her cell phone from the very man that visited her. He begins to tell her that if she would simply pay him $2,200.00 that he would guarantee to save her home. WHAT?

Now, friends...what does this conjure up in your mind? Can you spell S-C-A-M?

Obviously people who are on the verge of losing their life investment and the roof over their heads are a bit vulnerable and confused. Until Ruby explained this to our Team, she was seriously considering handing over the money.

I use to advocate Loss Mitigation till I had a very sour experience with it. When one finds that all their work to save person's home was for naught it takes the joy out of the "almost charity driven" goal. As a Loss Mitigator we were provided with all the individuals personal information down to the loan number and their social security numbers and their current cell phone numbers. If this info falls into the wrong hands it could be the perfect lead in for a scam!

Warn your Peeps!

There is no better target than a person who is hanging on by a thread. If I discover that this is legit I will let you know. Until then, beware.

Comments

There are lots of scammers out there right now. Tough times seem to bring them out of the woodwork as they try to take advantage of the disadvantaged. Take a look at all the scammy classifieds of craigslist or the many scam auctions on ebay right now, it is amazing. I would estimate more than half the big ticket items are scams right now.

That is what a scam is - feeding off the vulnerable. It is so wrong on so many levels and it makes it so hard for those who are trying to do it right. They say that catastrophe brings the best out in people - and your client is dealing with a catastrophic event - let's hope we start seeing the best.

Posted by Steve Richman (Genworth Financial) almost 10 years ago

Like it's not bad enough, someone has found a way to prey on those who are already in dire straits. nice.

Deb- Thank goodness she had someone like you to watch out for her! This is the second scam post I've read on AR today. We all need to keep each other updated on what's going on so we can protect ourselves and our clients. Good job!

Smells kinda funky. If it really is a scam, that guy should go to prison for a VERY long time.

I'd be interested in your experience if you have heard about what I emailed you...very interesting.

Posted by Stephanie Edwards-Musa, knitwit at thred UP (thredUP.com) almost 10 years ago

Deb-Wow that is so awful! I am going to re-blog this for more exposure. What a shame that people have to worry about such a thing at a low point in their lives. Like Ilyce said, keeping each other updated really helps nip these kinds of things in the bud. Thanks for the post!!

Hi Deb... I have heard this same scam going on with alarming frequency (you are about the third or fourth person to tell me about it this month). It's awful that there is not a better way to warn folks about these scams BEFORE they get taken advantage of.

Posted by Steve Shatsky almost 10 years ago

Deb, Do keep us posted...I have heard these scam artists some times zero in on people who are behind in their property taxes...

That is ridiculous Deb. I have said a thousand times and I will say it yet again 1 million, 100,000, 100,000,000 more, it is never that hard to do the right thing. Why do people feel it necessary to manipulate the ulnerable. Geez, this pisses me off.

Bo

Posted by Bo Hussung (Bell Title /Triserv LLC) almost 10 years ago

Deb, They repeat this here on our local channel over and over again. People are paying for help and (obviously) losing the money. It's such a shame and I do hope they have stiff fines and punish they people that are involved with these scams.

Some lenders do send people to the door to verify who is living there if anyone. I know Countrywide does. And as far as those Loss Mitigators that went to a couple hour, or couple day training...wouldn't touch them with a 10 foot pole, but many people don't know what to do as you said.